Becoming a pro surfer is no easy feat in 2023! Gone are the days of six-figure contracts, big money deals, and brands throwing cash at every new kid from Coolangatta and San Clemente. It’s not how it used to be, and surf brands don’t have the money to hand out cash to every aspiring pro surfer.
Nowadays, the guys and gals with the biggest deals are in the top 5 on the CT or “stylish” mal riders with large social followings, so unless you fall into one of these two categories, becoming a well paid pro surfer is tricky. However, don’t let that put you off; getting paid well to surf is still possible! With multiple infinite means of promoting yourself through social media, healthy contest prize money, and more revenue streams available than ever before, you can earn a comfortable living through surfing.
In this article, we dive into everything you need to know to become a professional surfer, from the essential skills and techniques to building a personal brand and professional network. We’ll also look closely at balancing surfing with other aspects of life to achieve the holy grail of getting paid to surf and maintaining a happy life outside surfing. There’re heaps to unpack here, so let’s get to it.
Table of Contents
What Does it Take to Become a Professional Surfer?
Becoming a professional surfer is a lifelong pursuit, a mission requiring years of dedication, time, and money, and it all starts in the early days.
Starting Age
Mos top CT surfers were early starters, riding their first waves as early as age 7, 6, and even 5. While you don’t want to push your kid into heat strategies as soon as they’re out of nappies, the earlier they start surfing, the more “reference points” a young surfer will develop. The younger, the better. From riding small lines of whitewater on the inside to progressing out the back and taking on pointbreaks–fundamental to the budding surfer.
Foundational Skills
There are several foundational surf skills and techniques required to surf well, let alone professionally. Mastering moves like carves, snaps, and airs with speed, power, and flow is critical to riding waves to a high standard. If you can’t do these types of moves, you won’t last long on the Challenger series.
Other skill-based and fitness-related components are also vital to surfing. Strength, power, cardiovascular fitness, balance, and coordination help you surf better. What’s more, you can develop these skills regardless of your age, and If you’re committed to improving your surfing, it’s never too late to become a pro surfer.
Competition
While you could go down the road of free surfing and making surf videos, or even YouTube nowadays, competition is a massive part of becoming a pro surfer. Learning heat strategy, contest formats, and heat simulation are crucial if you want to go down the competitive route. With regional WQS comps feeding into the Challenger Series, getting to the Championship Tour is more affordable (not necessarily easier) than it once was.
Travel
Learning to be on the road perpetually is one of the unspoken hardships of being a pro surfer. It sounds all dreamy, but packing your badge every other week to fly to the other side of the world and get knocked out in the first round of the contest you’ve been training so hard for is tough.
Whether you’re following the contest scene trying to make the World Tour or free surfing to get clips making clips, you spend most of your time on the road. Except for the North Shore of Oahu, surfing your local spot your whole life won’t expose you to epic waves and the surfing limelight. You must be on the road, chasing swells and tackling waves of all varieties– slabs, beachies, points, the whole shebang! These waves allow you to practice moves that can only be practiced in certain types of waves.
Sponsors/Support
While you could set up income streams that allow you to surf professionally. (e.g., social media and YouTube), It’s tricky to do things all by yourself. Having great sponsors who pay you a salary or help you with boards, wetsuits, etc. This helps when it comes to chasing the professional surfing dream!
Personal Branding
Today, having a personal brand and a solid online presence is critical. Whether developing a unique surf/lifestyle or creating content that aligns with brands you want to work with, your brand determines how attractive you are to companies and how much value you can provide them. This is why guys nowadays (who aren’t necessarily the best surfers) make more money through channels like YouTube and Socials. Check out Stab Mag’s “How Surfers Get Paid” to learn more about this. It’s a super interesting series with insights into how (and how much) top-level surfers make!
Essential Skills & Techniques for Professional Surfing
Surfing in Different Conditions
Surfing in heaps of different conditions is essential to being good at surfing. Whether it’s surfing a heat in average 2ft slop or tackling 10ft Teahupoo, you’ve got to become a surfer who can surf in anything. Look at John John; he won the Eddie Aikau event and the World Title in the same year (2016), a testament to his prowess in waves of all shapes and sizes.
Surf Technique
Surfing is one of the most challenging sports to get good at because there are so many variables in play every time you paddle out. Not to mention how complex the techniques are themselves. Let’s break it down, every time you surf, you contend with the wind, tide, and swell, and that’s not even starting on equipment. You’ll then decide which board to ride based on how appropriate it is to the conditions. Then, you need to find the opportunity to practice different maneuvers, which is tough in an ever-changing ocean, even if the waves are pumping.
A ton of surfing and practice is required to master even basic moves in surfing. Still, when you start trying airs, finners and getting good at barrel riding, the opportunity to practice becomes even more limited. Certain sections (parts of the wave suitable for practicing certain maneuvers) only come around occasionally. Huge amounts of water time, coaching, and surf movie studying are required to master these moves.
Surf Coaching
It’s extremely hard to improve your surfing by yourself. Looking at surf footage is one of the best (and most harrowing) ways to improve, as you can see where you’re going wrong. But looking through that same video with a coach is 100x better. Coaches give you specific things to work on in real-time during a session or afterward in a video analysis session. Most of the top guys on the QS and CT will have dedicated coaches to help them with equipment, wave knowledge, and technique (although there’s only so much technique you can teach to guys like Medina and Italo).
Studying Surfing
You have to be completely obsessed with surfing to make it as a pro, and yep; this means surfing all day, coming home, and watching surf movies all night. Watching the best guys and gals perform the moves you’re trying to do, helps you build a stronger mental image of the body positions required to perform it.
Mindfulness & Visualization
Staying present is crucial to surfing, particularly in heats. If you’re like me, you drift off in surfs, daydreaming, wishing the waves were better, or are mentally occupied by something entirely unrelated. But staying present means you can be in the moment, surf waves as they come to you–not thinking of the whole waves but each section as a separate element.
In heat scenarios, this can also help in stressful situations where you need a score in the dying minutes. Visualization is also great practice for surfing, as it can allow you to picture what you’re about to practice! The more you do this, the more it is ingrained into your brain and the more likely you are to replicate it.
Physical & Mental Health
Physical health goes without saying, and surfing every day is a great way to stay on top of both, especially when compared to the average non-surfing masses. However, it’s not enough to simply surf–the top tour surfers train in the gym when it’s flat and has rigorous daily stretching routines–crucial for competing at the top level. Gone are the days of partying all night and rocking up five minutes before paddling out for a heat.
Mental health is also critical, as the life of a professional surfer isn’t always as it sounds. You’re on the road for months at a time, away from your friends and family, you’ll lose heats more often than you win, and the financial pressures can be overwhelming. Throw in self-doubt and lack of confidence, and you’re left wondering why the supposed “best job in the world” is so damn stressful. Time away from surfing and spending valuable time with friends and family is vital to your mental well-being as a professional surfer.
Building a Brand & Network
Nowadays, being a professional surfer without a personal brand and network is nearly impossible. Brands want someone who, yes, rips, but is also marketable, with an active social media presence to whom an audience can relate.
Events/Contests
While less important than it once was, being around industry events and competitions can help get your name in front of more eyeballs, connect you with influential industry figures, and build your network.
Video Content
Whether for social media or starring in a surf movie, getting epic surf clips has always been a vital aspect of professional surfing. If you stand any chance of appealing to sponsors, you must get good clips in good waves and post regularly on social media or save your A-grade clips for a profile movie.
Social Media Presence & Content Creation
All brands need someone present and active on social media. Someone who aligns with their brand and can represent it in a way that relates to their audience. Photos, video clips, and interaction are key to getting your name out there and becoming more attractive to brands.
Working With Photographers & Managers
As your professional surf career grows, working with photogs, videographers, and managers can help you grow and maintain your career. It’s vital to get clips to see how your surfboards look and generate content for socials and magazines. Managers can also help you deal with sponsors, deals, work with photographers, and industry-related negotiations–helping take the pressure off and allowing you to focus on surfing.
Balancing Surfing & Life
Goals & Priorities
To succeed as a professional surfer (and anything in life), you must have clear goals and expectations of what you want to achieve. Do you want to win a world title and become the next Gabe Medina? Do you want to make a sick surf film? Maybe, you want to make YouTube surf travel videos (like me). Whatever the path, it needs to be clear from the get-go. This will help you stay motivated and do all the small (seemingly insignificant things) to help you get there.
Healthy Relationships With Friends & Family
Being away traveling and surfing all over the world is a dream and a life that most can’t even imagine. However, it comes at a price–the price of perpetually being away from loved ones. Time at home and precious time with family and friends are crucial to your career and longevity as a professional surfer.
Managing Finances
Managing finances can be tricky as a professional surfer, and even at the top level, surfing salaries pail compared to other professional sports. But being money savvy when chasing a tour or filming to stack clips can help you get more waves and enter more events for less coin. You must plan everything out to maximize your surf and travel efficiency.
Final Words
Undoubtedly, the road to becoming a professional surfer is long and arduous. It’s a road with many bumps and roadblocks, and surfing will always be one of the trickiest sports to crack as a pro. But that doesn’t mean life as a professional surfer is bad, as it’s still one of the best lifestyles you could ever have. Traveling the globe, competing in a sport you love, filming clips, and visiting all these amazing places–it’s the dream life. But if you want a piece of it, you’ve got to get to work; be obsessed with surfing, do everything you can to improve, and make yourself as valuable as possible to sponsors.
